Comment on If you want communism, you can start a commune

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DreamlandLividity@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

co-ops get outcompeted by corporations. this is a capitalist economy we have, and so it’s very geared towards competitive profit seeking.

Remember that profit and created value go hand in hand, or at least, our legislation should make sure it does.

co-ops provide better worker protections, better working conditions, better stability and resilience, and better products. corporations are better at being single-mindedly profit driven, which is what our economic structure rewards.

True, but corporations have to generate profit for shareholders. This is the profit that should be used for improving worker conditions etc. by communes. Also, some worker protections should be legislated leveling the playing field even more.

communism is not a vague concept

At least here on Lemmy it seems to be. Kinda makes no difference to me if someone has the secrets to successful communism if I can’t see them.

it’s important to remember that under capitalism a company is very much motivated to curtail workers’ rights and anything that would threaten the status quo.

Within the company, sure. Outside, it has motivation to hinder any competition and this has to be prevented by govt. regardless of whether the competition is a co-op or a corp.

the system is rigged against it, which is why they tend to fail.

I am not accepting this without concrete examples. How is it rigged?

capitalism is not markets, nor is it free trade. capitalism is the specific system where there is an owning class that dictates how the economy is run (CEOs / shareholders), thereby holding that power away from the working class, whose lives are dictated by their decisions.

That is a misconception. Any individual CEO/shareholder have very little control of how the economy is run. And while they may cooperate in some areas and situations, they are ultimately competitors most of the time. If you make the simple assumption that they chase profit, than they have even less control. I think they are far closer to just another cog in the machine then to any dictators. That is the appeal of capitalism, as long as you align your goals with profit for corporations, they will fulfill your goals with ruthless efficiency.

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